Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Bureau of Air Permit Section June 16, 2016 Responsiveness Summary for the Significant Modification of the Clean Air Act Permit Program (CAAPP) Permit Issued to Midwest Generation, LLC for the Waukegan Generating Station Waukegan, Illinois Source I.D. No.: 097190AAC Permit No.: 95090047 _______________________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents A. Decision B. Background C. Opportunity for Public Comments D. Availability of Documents E. General Overview of Public Comments F. Specific Public Comments with Responses by the Illinois EPA G. USEPA Comments with Responses by the Illinois EPA H. Other Comments I. For Additional Information Attachment 1. Changes Between the Draft Permit and Issued Permit 1 A. DECISION On June 16, 2016, the Illinois EPA issued a revised Clean Air Act Permit Program (CAAPP) permit to Midwest Generation, LLC, for the Waukegan Generating Station (Waukegan Station). B. BACKGROUND The Waukegan Station is a coal-fired electric power plant owned and operated by Midwest Generation. The plant has two active coal-fired boilers that produce steam that is then used to generate electricity. Another coal-fired boiler was retired in 2007. The Waukegan Station qualifies as a major source of emissions under Illinois’ Clean Air Act Permit Program (CAAPP). The CAAPP is Illinois’ operating permit program for sources of emissions pursuant to Title V of the federal Clean Air Act. The CAAPP is administered by the Illinois EPA. The CAAPP generally requires that major stationary sources of emissions in Illinois apply for and obtain CAAPP permits. CAAPP permits contain conditions identifying applicable air pollution control requirements under the federal Clean Air Act and Illinois’ Environmental Protection Act (Act). Compliance procedures, including testing, monitoring, recordkeeping and reporting requirements, are also established as required or necessary to assure compliance and accomplish the purposes of the CAAPP. The conditions of a CAAPP permit are enforceable by the Illinois EPA, USEPA and the public. The Illinois EPA issued the initial CAAPP permit for the Waukegan Station on February 7, 2006. Midwest Generation appealed this permit to the Illinois Pollution Control Board (Board), contending that a number of conditions in the permit were erroneous or unwarranted. On March 16, 2006, the Board accepted Midwest Generation’s appeal and confirmed that the initial CAAPP permit was stayed in its entirety by operation of the law.1 Midwest Generation and the Illinois EPA, with the assistance of the Office of the Illinois Attorney General, have now successfully settled this appeal. The issuance of this revised CAAPP permit is a critical step in getting a CAAPP permit in place for the Waukegan Station. It will be followed by a subsequent revision to this permit in a “reopening proceeding.” In the reopening, emission control requirements that have been adopted since 2006, with which the Waukegan Station must already fully comply, will be included in the permit.2 C. OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC COMMENTS The issuance of this revised permit was preceded by a public comment period in accordance with Section 39.5(8) of the Act and 35 IAC Part 252. A draft of the revised permit and the accompanying Statement of Basis prepared by the Illinois EPA were made available for review by the public at the Waukegan Public Library, the Illinois EPA’s offices in Des Plaines and the Illinois EPA 1 The Waukegan Station is one of many coal-fired power plants in Illinois whose initial CAAPP permits were issued roughly a decade ago and subsequently appealed to the Illinois Pollution Control Board and stayed in their entirety. 2 The principle “new” requirements that will be added into the CAAPP permit for the Waukegan Station are applicable requirements of recently adopted rules, such as the Cross State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) and the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), and limits set by construction permits issued for the Waukegan Station since 2006. Even though these requirements are not addressed in the permit that has now been issued, Midwest Generation is still subject to and must comply with these requirements. 2 Headquarters in Springfield. The comment period began on July 18, 2015 and ended on October 30, 2015. A public hearing was held at 7:00 PM on September 2, 2015 at the Illinois Beach Resort and Conference Center in Zion. In addition to oral comments made at the hearing, written comments on the planned issuance of a revised permit were also received. Written comments were received from the Lake County Health Department, the League of United Latin American Citizens of Lake County and a number of area residents. Written comments were also jointly submitted by the Environmental Law and Policy Center, Natural Resources Defense Council, Respiratory Health Association and the Sierra Club. The USEPA also submitted written comments on the planned changes to the permit. The Illinois EPA’s responses to these comments are provided in this Responsiveness Summary.3 D. AVAILABILITY OF DOCUMENTS Copies of this Responsiveness Summary and the revised CAAPP permit that has been issued are being made available for viewing by the public at the Illinois EPA’s Headquarters at 1021 North Grand Avenue East in Springfield and at the Waukegan Public Library, 128 North County Street in Waukegan. Copies are also available electronically at www.epa.illinois.gov/public-notices and www.epa.gov/region5/air/permits/ilonline.html. Printed copies of these documents are also available free of charge by calling the Illinois EPA’s Toll Free Environmental Helpline, 888/372-1996, or by contacting Brad Frost at the Illinois EPA’s Office of Community Relations: 217/782-7027 Desk Telephone 217/782-9143 TDD 217/524-5023 Facsimile Email: [email protected]. E. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF PUBLIC COMMENTS The proposal to issue a revised CAAPP permit for the Waukegan Station generated a variety of comments from the public and a number of environmental organizations. The comments that were submitted were helpful to the Illinois EPA in the decision-making process and these comments were fully considered by the Illinois EPA prior to issuing the revised permit. A major concern was the impacts of the emissions of the Waukegan Station on public health. The health impacts of coal-fired electric power plants has been the subject of considerable scientific scrutiny. Power plants do emit pollutants that in sufficiently high concentrations can have health effects, particularly for people suffering from asthma, chronic respiratory diseases or heart disease. Some studies have found that emissions from existing coal-fired power plants in Illinois do contribute to these effects at levels that can be predicted mathematically. However, those studies do not demonstrate that existing plants like the Waukegan Station power pose a significant risk to public health individually. Indeed, having an adequate, reliable and affordable 3 This Responsiveness Summary addresses significant comments received during the public comment period that may be relevant to this permitting action. Comments are not necessarily provided in their entirety or verbatim. 3 supply of electricity is also essential to modern society, and to the health and well-being of the public. Rather, the purpose of those studies is to influence public policy toward reducing the emissions and any associated health impacts from existing power plants. As such, one purpose of those studies is to support the adoption of new laws and rules to have these existing power plants upgraded to with modern emission controls. This has occurred and the emission controls at the Waukegan Station have been upgraded. People were also concerned about the potential for disproportionate health risks to people who live in Environmental Justice Areas attempts to address those potential risks in its various programs. For example, as noted in the comment, concerns about mercury contamination and programs to address such contamination and control mercury emissions are driven by the need to protect fetuses, infants and children. NAAQS are set at stringent levels as needed to protect sensitive sectors of the population, notably the young, as well as the elderly and those already suffering from respiratory disease, as appropriate based on the potential effects of exposure to a pollutant. NAAQS are not set just at the higher, less stringent level to protect healthy adults. State and federal programs to reduce emissions from school buses arise from concerns about potential health effects on children who ride those school buses. However, concerns about children do not necessitate an additional assessment as part of the permitting of the plant. This is because the regulatory programs that are being implemented through this permit already address concerns about disproportionate impacts of emissions and poor air quality on children, wherever they are. Several comments expressed concern with the fact that the CAAPP permit for the Waukegan Station has not been updated to reflect new applicable requirements that have become applicable since the permit was issued. Some of these concerns reflect a mistaken impression that Midwest Generation is avoiding the newer emission requirements either as a result of the current appeal or due to the absence of those same requirements in the revised permit issued by the Illinois EPA in this proceeding. The applicability of these requirements to the Waukegan Station has not depended upon their incorporation into the CAAPP permit for the source. Rather, such requirements became applicable to the source upon the effectiveness of the promulgated rules. The Illinois EPA will be revising the CAAPP permit to include the more recent Clean Air Act requirements that are applicable to the Waukegan Station in a future reopening proceeding. The emissions of existing coal-fired power plants were also generally of concern. However, the emissions of vehicles, including cars, trucks and trains, generally pose similar concerns, and represent as a group a significant contribution to all air pollution.